


We've come so far my dear, look how we've grown...

by Cricket_crazy28



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Jimmy is everyone's dad, M/M, Protective mamma bear Benny, Team as Family, i have no clue what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25206799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cricket_crazy28/pseuds/Cricket_crazy28
Summary: Joe and Jos take one of the biggest decision of their lives, with a little help from their family...
Relationships: Eoin Morgan/Ben Stokes, Jimmy Anderson/Alastair Cook, Jonny Bairstow/Chris Woakes, Jos Buttler/Joe Root, Rory Burns/Ollie Pope, Sam Billings/Jason Roy
Comments: 97
Kudos: 11





	We've come so far my dear, look how we've grown...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [j_obsessed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_obsessed/gifts), [OrnateDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrnateDragon/gifts), [Rosetylars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosetylars/gifts), [HeidiJames28](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeidiJames28/gifts).



> This is something that appeared in my brain and would not leave so I apologise if it's a bit random. I just couldn't decide which series to do this in, so this is set some time after 2018 in a fictional series at home against the sparkle ponies, in a time frame where Trevor is still the coach!
> 
> This is for my darling J_obsessed who has always stood at the helm of this ship with me and is always willing to take on anyone who believes that these two aren't completely in love! Also my darling HeidiJames28 who has joined our club of Joseph stans and whose fic gave me another beautiful ship that I have fallen in love with already (hi Rollie😂)   
> Rosetylars who always inspires with her beautiful long fics and provides much needed encouragement all the time!! And finally for OrnateDragon who helped me with this a little bit and provided the boost that I needed in order to start writing because I was pretty sure I had gone crazy when I first thought of this!   
> I love you all❤️❤️❤️
> 
> Warning: the team in this fic is very bad and I'm pretty sure that this team would not fair very well in any match and the characters have been chosen because I like them in the plot. Yes I am aware that there are three keepers and no full time spinner. I apologise but neither Mo, Jack or Dom really fit in with this plot and as much fun as Swanny would be to have in this, I think that its pushing it a little bit.

Jos stared in awe at his new shirt. The pristine white decorated with the badge and number that he was used to seeing, 665, a number that would never ever be taken away from him and still filled him with pride and butterflies every time he saw it. But what he was not used to, was the initials on the sleeve, JBR, initials that had been a far away dream for many years, but now were his reality.   
He picked up the shirt and turned it over, even more enamoured by what he saw, the usual 63 but above it there was a large navy blue, BUTTLER-ROOT. He revered the fabric as he did the man from who he gained the second name and pulled on the shirt, ready to show the world whose he was and who was his.   
Across the dressing room, there was similar scene unfolding, a slightly taller blonde man, was stroking the same letters, but this time above a large 66. Putting a kiss to the badge above the numbers 655, as he always did, he pulled on the shirt equally as ready to tell the world that he was in love with his wicketkeeper.

* * *

Sat in his seat, Jimmy watched both of these scenes unfold and smiled fondly, remembering all the moments that he had witnessed between the two blondes from the first time he watched them interact in India to their wedding a few months ago and wondered when the lanky blonde missile from Yorkshire and the soft spoken boy who had transferred from Somerset had grown up so much. He knew that next few days would be hard from them and vowed that he would make sure that they knew how much he (and Ali) loved them.   
Just as he was about to go and give them a hug each, he heard the booming Aussie tinged shouts of,   
"ROOTY" "JOE ROOT" "JOSEPH EDWARD BUTTLER-ROOT IT IS THE TOSS AND YOU ARE THE CAPTAIN GO AND DO IT"   
The dressing room erupted in snickers as they watched their captain fall out of his trance, stumbling over his own feet as he struggled to pull on his blazer before shooting sheepish looks at the coach and then dirty looks at the whole team who did nothing to help him.   
As Joe was about to leave the dressing room, he felt himself get pulled back, when he turned around he saw first his husband and then his best friend both stood at the door, soft smiles on their faces. Jos pulled Joe into a soft kiss and simply said  
"I love you so much Joey"   
Even though he was confused, Joe gave a subconscious reply of   
"I love you more Jossy"  
Behind him Ben was smiling softly, knowing that whatever happened he would always stand behind the two of them and anyone who didn't support them would have to go through him first. His friends jokingly called him a Mamma bear but he knew that there was quite a bit of truth in this, especially concerning the blonde captain. When he caught the questioning looks the two of them were pointing at him, he simply smiled and said   
" I love you both and Eoin and I are both behind you all the way" ,  
and then pulled them into a huge hug, feeling the two of them repeat the sentiment. When he finally let go of the two of them, they saw that the whole dressing room had fallen silent and was looking at them with fond smiles and even a few misty eyes.

* * *

Jimmy will deny this till the end of time but we all know the truth, Woaksey will admit it wholeheartedly, although he will blush profusely (but what's new there?)and Woody will give you a cheeky smile and confuse you with random topics until you feel as though you have just got off a roller coaster and forget all about it.

* * *

Overwhelmed by the support of his team, Joe quickly wiped his eyes and took the sheet from Trevor and read the team sheet one last time.

R.J. Burns  
J.J. Roy   
J.E. Buttler-Root (c)  
B.A. Stokes (vc)  
J.C. Buttler-Root (w.k.)   
O.J.D. Pope  
J.M. Bairstow  
C.R. Woakes  
S.C.J. Broad  
J.C. Archer  
J.M. Cook

Seeing his name differing from his husbands by only one letter, made Joe want to tear up all over again but he knew that he had a job to do. He rubbed a hand over his face, blew a kiss at his husband and took one last look around the changing room, the view he found there warmed his heart to the temperature of the sun; Rory was sat with Ollie's head in his lap whispering to him whilst running a hand through his hair, Jason and Sam had their heads bent together in the corner of the changing room obviously in their own land, Ben had an arm around Mark's shoulders with fond smiles on their faces as they laughed together, Jonny and Chris sat, cuddled in a corner looking fondly over at Joe himself, smiling when they caught his eye and Jimmy and Stu stood on opposite sides of a dressing room tossing a worn leather ball between themselves, whilst laughing. This sight gave him the strength to walk out of the dressing room and onto the pitch ready to make his decision.

As he stepped onto the outfield, Joe felt the cheers of his home ground reverberate around him, making him feel welcome and at ease with the whole situation. As he approached the centre of the field where Nasser was waiting to conduct the toss, he remembered the name under his blazer and felt his smile grow across his face. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't realise his opposite number had come and stood beside him,  
"You okay Joe?" Came a soft accented voice from his side, startling the blue eyed man from his trance.  
"Oh sorry, Kane, I was lost in my thoughts, yeah I'm fine how about you?"   
"I'm fine, we still going for a drink afterwards, I need to revisit my days as a Yorkie"  
"Of course, and once a Yorkie always a Yorkie"  
There had never been any animosity between the two captains, in fact they had been close friends throughout their youth and Kane's stint at Yorkshire and continued to have a good relationship.   
Throughout the toss, Joe felt a constant stream of shivers (of excitement and nervousness) running down his spine, he was about to reveal to the world his most important relationship and he had no idea what would happen.   
When the toss was done and Joe had confirmed that England would bowl first, it was finally time to exchange team sheets. When Joe handed his over to Kane, rather than look over the sheet he had been given, he watched his opposite number carefully for his reaction. As Kane swept his eyes over the sheet they widened slightly at the sight of the name changes,  
"I can't believe you're actually doing this" he said in disbelief that they were planning on doing it this way, rather than having a press release and social media post like Jimmy and Ali had done. " Anyway you have our full support and you can be rest assured that this will not impact our treatment of you in any way"

* * *

Jos and Joe's relationship was some what an open secret in the cricket world, with a lot of people guessing and a lot of people in the know. Kane had watched it develop in its early stages in the Roses matches, where Joe would be more nervous for the drinks afterwards than the actual match, always putting in extra effort to make sure his hair looked okay and would dither nervously around the opposition keeper for the whole night.

* * *

Just as Joe thought the conversation was over, he heard Kane mutter under his breath   
"It's not like I could judge anyway, even though I wish that we could play on the same team so we could pull a stunt like this"

After hearing this comment, Joe re-entered the dressing room in a daze and had to shake his head a few times before announcing that they would be bowling first. This simple sentence launched the changing room into an almost humorous panic, with physio tape and sunglasses flying from one end to the other and jumpers being switched between players making sure the correct jumper and shirt was on the correct person.

* * *

As the team started filing out of the dressing room and onto the pitch, Jimmy held back his two blonde ~~sons~~ friends and gave them both big hugs and launched into a thick Lancastrian rant   
"I may not say this very often but I love you both very much and Ali and I will do whatever we have to, to make sure that this goes smoother than ours did, including screaming at the press, because you know what? Now Ali is the press, so he can just do it from the TMS box."   
Both blonde boys looked slowly at the older man, before turning to each other and bursting into peels of laughter, hanging onto each other and the very confused brunette.   
"Oh my god, Jimmy, never change, we love you too and thank you for always having our backs"  
The boys were still trying to recover from their fits, when they heard loud shouts of "OI where are you?" From down the corridor.   
As they rushed to the rest of the team, the boys entwined their fingers, ready to face the challenge of a lifetime.  
With huge smiles on their faces, rings on their fingers( though they were covered in physio tape) and BUTTLER ROOT written on their backs, two blonde boys ran onto the outfield, soaking in the confused murmurs of the crowd and the applause from the rest of their team. They knew that as long as they had each other they would be fine.

* * *

Up in the TMS box a raven haired man smiled fondly down at his best friends, sat down on his chair and began to commentate.

**Author's Note:**

> I gravely apologise I have no clue how to end fic. Any comments and feedback are appreciated!


End file.
